JHS Students Raise Record Amount For Annual ‘Penny Wars’
The Jamestown High School’s Acapella Choir performed a concert for students and faculty members at the beginning of the school’s Penny Wars fundraising event, held at the school’s auditorium on Friday. In addition to the choir, current staff members who are JHS alumni choir members also sang in select songs.
Jamestown High School students prepare to present checks Friday in the amount of $4,020.24 to the families of Johnny LaMancuso and Landon Tota. A record amount was raised during this year’s Penny Wars. P-J photo by Christopher Blakeslee
Pictured, from left, are Chris Maggio, a Jamestown High School math teacher; Tom Warner; Tony Dolce, organization advisor; and Tom Langworthy.
The Jamestown High School’s Acapella Choir performed a concert for students and faculty members at the beginning of the school’s Penny Wars fundraising event, held at the school’s auditorium on Friday. In addition to the choir, current staff members who are JHS alumni choir members also sang in select songs.
Jamestown High School students prepare to present checks Friday in the amount of $4,020.24 to the families of Johnny LaMancuso and Landon Tota. A record amount was raised during this year’s Penny Wars. P-J photo by Christopher Blakeslee
Pictured, from left, are Chris Maggio, a Jamestown High School math teacher; Tom Warner; Tony Dolce, organization advisor; and Tom Langworthy.
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Pennies can seem like an insignificant thing in today's digital economy. Additionally, it costs more to manufacture them than their worth at face value.
However, when combined, pennies can make dollars, or several thousand dollars, in the case of Jamestown High School's Penny Wars.
JHS raised $8,040.48 during this year's fundraising endeavor, shattering all previous efforts. Moreover, two awardees were named as beneficiaries for 2023 -- also a first in the traditional giving by the student body.
Awardees for 2023 were Johnny LaMancuso and Landon Tota; both attend Jamestown Public Schools and their parents also are graduates of Jamestown High School.
"We are blown away by this year's total," said Tony Dolce, the organization's advisor. "Penny Wars is a great JHS tradition for the last 25 years. This exceeds the previous record by over $3,000 dollars. Each year, we put on Penny Wars as a friendly competition for a good cause as a way to help someone in our school family. It's our pleasure to be able to present this money to the LaMancuso and Tota families to help defray their various medical and travel expenses. Our thoughts continue to be with them as they both continue their recovery."
Each party or their representatives were presented with a check for $4,020.24 to offset any cost incurred during their prospective treatments.
"The criteria (for Penny Wars) are to find a person or family within our JHS family, including past alumni and their family members too," Dolce said.
LaMancuso was diagnosed with Ewing Sarcoma, a rare form of cancer, earlier this fall. He has been undergoing chemotherapy treatment at Oishei Children's Hospital.
Tota suffered a traumatic brain injury from a fall on July 4, which resulted in a stay at Oishei Children's Hospital. He has since been transported for long-term care at a children's hospital in Pittsburgh.
Finishing in first place with $4,450.53 raised and 340,677 points was the senior class; the junior class came in second with $1,642.32 raised and 142,050 points; finishing in third place was the sophomore class of 2026 with $993.53 raised and 55,031 points; the freshman class raised $296.73 and received 8,208 points.
Prior to a presentation Friday morning, students, teachers and staff were treated to a concert performed by the JHS A Capella Choir, The Magicals Music Group and a combination of choir members and past student alumnus who are current facility members performing for event attendees.
Part of the festive atmosphere included the placing of pies in the faces of student council leaders and their faculty advisors, along with the annual dumping of "goop" on several members of the high school's administrative team.
"This is great. It's wonderful to see all of us come together to support our own," said Tom Langworthy, high school assistant principal. "I'd let them dump the mixture on me anytime for a worthy cause like this."
"This was a lot of fun," said high school sophomore Ceaser Melendez.